Abbie Furmansky
American soprano Abbie Furmansky came to prominence in Europe as an ensemble member at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where she quickly established herself in the lyric soprano repertoire. Admired for her spirited stage presence and the luxurious color of her rich voice, she has worked with leading conductors such as Edo De Waart, Kent Nagano, John Nelson, Ingo Metzmacher, Christopher Hogwood and Christian Thieleman and appeared throughout Europe and the United States with orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra.
Her performance with Vesselina Kasarova and Ramon Vargas as Inès in La Favorite, conducted by Marcello Viotti, Conductor and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra is recorded on the BMG label. Additional appearances have included performances with the New York City Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, the opera companies of Munich and Frankfurt, and the Baden Baden Festival.
Ms. Furmansky's current repertoire includes: Mimì in La Bohème, Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, Elvira in Don Giovanni, The Marschallin, Marie in Wozzeck, Madame Lidoine in Les Dialogues des Carmélites, and Jenny in Mahagonny. Recent performances have included: Robert Wilson's Los Angeles Opera production of Parsifal with Placido Domingo (also out on DVD), Netherlands Opera debut in Elektra, concert broadcast performance of Parsifal with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and a concert of Mozart arias in Constance, Germany.
Recent concert performances have included Britten's War Requiem at the Philharmonie in Berlin, concert debut at the Lucerne Festival with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Beethoven-Strauss's Die Ruinen von Athen with the Dresdner Philharmonie with Philippe Entremont conducting, Frank Martin's Golgotha in Potsdam, Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Novi Sad Serbia and Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. She recorded Bernstein's Kaddish Symphony (European Premiere of Samuel Pisar's narration & text), which was recently released on Nimbus Records.
Highlights of 2008-9 included: new productions in new roles at the Staatstheater Mainz as the Marschallin in Strauss' Rosenkavalier, Jenny in Weill's Mahagonny, Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème and her debut as Marie in Wozzeck. In January 2010, Abbie Furmansky makes her debut as Madama Butterfly, in a highly anticipated new Katharina Wagner production at the Staatstheater Mainz. In March of 2010 she will sing Frank Martin's "Golgotha" in Potsdam with the Oratorienchor Potsdam in the Friedenskirche.
An increasingly sought after international voice teacher, Ms. Furmansky maintains a private vocal studio and is a faculty member of the prestigious IVAI summer program in Tel Aviv. She makes her home in Berlin, where she lives with her son Joshua, and her husband, the composer and pianist Daniel Sutton.